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However he says he has been pushed to the brink of quitting the sport as a result of constant abuse.

Ryan, who has now made national headlines, says he has been head-butted, spat on and drenched with water as well as being verbally abused in his short career.

After Ryan spoke out, the Manchester FA said in the last two full completed seasons, only five people in the local grassroots game had been charged with assaulting a match official, and that none had been charged this campaign.

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However, it was revealed that so far in the teenager’s career as a registered referee, two teams and ten individuals had been found guilty of charges relating to behaviour towards Ryan in games he was officiating.

Since his initial call for strike action in December he had a 'positive' meeting with representatives from the Manchester FA.

He also met bosses at the FA HQ at Wembley, but said the latter meeting was unproductive.

And he and thousands of his supporters are set to follow-up on their threat to refuse to officiate any matches tomorrow and Sunday.

18-year-old Ryan says he has been head-butted, spat on and drenched with water as well as being verbally abused in his short career

He now has a second meeting planned at the national stadium next week where one proposal set to be discussed is said to be the idea of referees being issued with body-worn cameras.

He told the M.E.N: “The response has been amazing, from all over the country it’s been amazing.

“I think we’ve already sent a really strong message to the people at the top about how serious we are.

“But on Saturday and Sunday when many people don’t have referees for their games hopefully that will send an even stronger one.

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“Without a referee there is no game so people need to show them the respect and courtesy they deserve.”

Ryan says games that should have been officiated by a striking referee will have to be overseen by a representative of the home team or be cancelled.

However a source at the Manchester FA, who have promised to address Ryan’s concerns, but do not support the strike action, say they have been working with officials at their affiliated leagues and are confident “won’t have a significant impact.”